Barrett Elementary honors area seniors while seeking volunteers
for new reading program What began as an idea to honor grandparents
of local students at Barrett Elementary School Friday, evolved into
a way to rope them into volunteering with school
’s reading program. The school welcomed grandparents and senior
citizens from the nearby Cottage Green retirement community to the
school during a special assembly Friday to let them interact with
the students and introduce them to the reading program.
What began as an idea to honor grandparents of local students at Barrett Elementary School Friday, evolved into a way to rope them into volunteering with school’s reading program.
The school welcomed grandparents and senior citizens from the nearby Cottage Green retirement community to the school during a special assembly Friday to let them interact with the students and introduce them to the reading program.
The idea of the program is to promote enjoyment of reading, as well as literacy in general, according to Barrett Elementary School literacy coach Debbie Stewart. Grandparents will sign up to go into the classrooms at scheduled times and read with the children.
“We of course invited our students’ own grandparents who live close enough to come spend some time in the classroom,” Barrett Principal Lisa Atlas said Friday. “But we also invited seniors from Cottage Green to “adopt” a child at Barrett. They are close to us, and I think they would enjoy the opportunity to spend some time with children.”
Though many Barrett students have grandparents living in Morgan Hill or close by, not all are able to see their grandparents on a regular basis, and not all grandparents are fortunate enough to live close to their grandchildren.
Stewart said she is always looking for ways to encourage reading, and after Atlas had the idea to invite grandparents into the school, she thought the volunteer reading program would be a perfect tie-in.
“And I was really pleased with the turnout,” Stewart said. “I don’t have the final numbers of those who signed up to help, who signed up from Cottage Green, but I thought it was great to have so many here today.”
Stewart said although “far away” grandparents won’t be able to participate in the volunteer reading program, the Barrett staff was thrilled that so many made the effort to come for the program.
“I learned that we had grandparents today from as far away as Grass Valley and Yreka,” she said. “We even had one grandmother leave her Oregon home in the early, early morning hours to be at Barrett with her grandchild for today’s program.”
There were grandparents who volunteered immediately following the morning’s program.
“One of our second grade teachers, Jennifer Myers, had 10 grandparents visit her classroom after the assembly,” said Stewart. “Seven of them want to volunteer in the classroom on a regular basis.”
Felicia Ford, 8, who is in third grade, said she would be “happy” if grandparents came into the classroom to read with students. Her grandmother was ill and couldn’t attend the event, but Felicia said she hopes she could help.
“She really helps out a lot with my homework,” she said. “(Grandparents) help out a lot. They tell you about how things were. They tell you where you came from and how your mother acted when she was little.”
Grandparents John and Margaret Larez were able to attend the celebration Friday morning. They have a grandchild in kindergarten at Barrett, as well as a third grader, Jozef Corpuz.
“We live in San Jose, so we can’t come down to volunteer regularly, but we can come for special events like this,” John said. “I think it’s a great idea, though, having grandparents come in.”
Margaret added that volunteering in the classrooms would benefit the grandparents as much as the students, especially those who don’t have grandkids close by.
Stewart said she hopes the volunteer reading program will grow. Atlas said the program and the special assembly to celebrate grandparents and also introduce them to the idea of coming into the school and volunteering would likely become an annual event.
“This was just such a great day,” Atlas said.
